Reality Check
by Auna
Summary: The crew of Moya recieve a visitor from one of their Unrealized Realities, and Deke learns a few things about his father that he never knew.


Title: Reality Check  
>Rating: PG<br>Author: Auna  
>Beta: aeryncrichton, THANK YOU!<br>Setting: Approximately 20 cycles after PKW.  
>Disclaimer: Farscape is not mine, and I'm not making any money off it.<p>

Author's Notes: This was inspired by a thread started by Lt Garrix today on Terra Firma. It is the first fic I've written in about two years, I think. If I had the time, I'd expand on the universe. But since I don't think that's going to happen, I'll be happy with this little bit that I have. Thank you for reading.

Author's note 2: Uploading some of my old fic that never made it to this site. This was originally posted on farscapefluffybunnies and terrafirmascapers in 2009

xxxxxxx

"I see… a DRD," Deke said to Pilot from his position on the floor of command. He was stretched out, hands pillowing his head, staring at the nebulous cloud they were passing. The lights were low and the soft silence indicated how late the hour was. Pilot's image on the clamshell was his only company.

The giant squinted his eyes slightly, studying the same cloud. "I see…" he paused, considering, "I see Rygel."

"Oh come on, Rygel's not in that cloud," Deke denied.

"See those two orange wisps up top? Those are his ear-brows," Pilot refuted. "The purple is his mid-section, and those white clouds are his mustache."

Darn. He was right. "Good catch, Pilot." It had taken cycles for Deke to get Pilot to play the game properly, but once he'd caught on, the large crustacean bested him every time.

"Young D'Argo, I'm getting a reading about two hundred metras away," Pilot said with an odd catch in his voice.

"What is it, Pilot?" Deke said, sitting up, drawing in his feet and putting his elbows on his upturned knees while scanning the view portal. "What's wrong?"

"I haven't seen this in twenty cycles. This cannot be correct."

A bluish black tunnel opened up in front of Deke, swirling and turbulent. His breath caught in his chest, and he stepped backwards, despite the distance and the walls between them. "Is that a…"

"A wormhole," Pilot answered, his voice awed and scared at the same time. His image cut away from the clamshell, and Deke knew that Pilot was contacting his father.

Suddenly, a ship blasted through the center of the wormhole seconds before the swirling blue mass closed in on itself, disappearing. The young man could only stare. Before him flew his father's module.

The paint job was nicer. There were attachments that he didn't recognize and couldn't designate a purpose for. The shape was slightly different. But it was most assuredly, a nicer, newer model of John Crichton's infamous module. Dad was going to be pissed.

And jealous.

The module was heading towards Moya, and Deke knew that his parents would be meeting it when it landed. This was one scene he was not going to miss. Pulling his pulse pistol from its holster, he darted from command with a smile. Life was never dull around here.

Sure enough, when he raced through the door, he found his father and mother, standing side by side and facing the craft, flanked by a sleepy Chiana, and a grouchy Rygel. It was a scene he'd witnessed countless times in his life.

The module landed softly, expertly and the canopy lifted. Inside sat a figure in an orange jumpsuit and a white helmet. Slender hands lifted and yanked the helmet off, causing a cascade of blonde hair to fall around the young Sebacean woman's neck. Cautiously, she surveyed the room until her eyes alighted on John.

The transformation was instantaneous and unequivocal. Joy poured from her, filling the room and bouncing off the walls. "Father!" she yelled, scrambling from the cockpit and deftly dropping to the floor. Before anyone could react, she threw her arms around Crichton and began to sob. "I was afraid I'd never find you again!"

Deke's mouth dropped open as John and Aeryn looked at each other over the woman's head, both grimacing. This had to be some mistake.

The woman pulled back, a wide and exuberant smile covering her face, and Deke knew that somehow, this was true. She looked like a feminine version of him, only with brown eyes and slightly rounder eyebrows. And the white-blond hair.

John cleared his throat nervously as Deke felt anger simmer in the pit of his stomach. Her presence here witnessed to his father's infidelity at some point, and all his mother could do was pat the woman on the back and give John another "oh dear, what do we do about THIS?" look.

"Uh," John stammered.

"John," Aeryn said, saving him from his mindlessness. "Why don't you take your daughter here, and show her to a room, where she can be more comfortable. There are many questions…"

The woman's face fell. "What do you mean my room? You gave my room away? And where's Mother?" She stepped back, inching toward her module, her face showing nervousness.

"I don't know where your mother is," John said. "I thought she was supposed to still be a statue on the Royal Planet for another sixty cycles. What happened?"

"You're not them!" she wailed, turning and heading toward the module. "This was the closest…"

Deke's breath caught in his throat. How many sisters did he have running around this universe? And why was his mother so calm about all this?

Aeryn and Chiana acted simultaneously, reaching the woman and restraining her. She only resisted marginally, and even slumped onto Chiana in tired desperation, tears streaming down her face. "You are the closest I've come to finding home."

The two older women escorted her from the room, and Deke was pretty sure they were taking her someplace to rest. When they were gone, he turned on his father.

"What the hezmana was that?" he asked.

"I don't know," John said. "At first I thought she was Katralla's daughter, but she doesn't look anything like her."

"Who the frell is Katralla?"

His father suddenly remembered that he was talking to his 20 cycle-old son and took a deep breath. "Someone from a distant past. Before your mother and I were married."

"You had a daughter with her? I have a sister?"

"Yes."

"And mom knows this?"

John sighed. "Yes. She won't be born for another sixty cycles, long after I'm dead."

"So who's this?" Deke asked, pointing toward the module. "How many brothers and sisters do I have running around?"

"None that I know of," John said turning from Deke and inspecting the module.

"So she's a fraud?" he asked, frustrated by the lack of information flowing his way.

"No, I don't think so," John answered without turning around. "Come look at this." He motioned with his hand and Deke, without any other option left open to him if he wanted answers, did as he was bid.

"See how this is set up? They've moved the cooling system over here," he indicated the correct spot. "The power pack has been replaced, and the wiring is pure genius."

"So what are you saying?" Deke asked, unable to hide his smile. Dad was intrigued. He was impressed. He was irritated that he hadn't figured out these modifications on his own.

"I only know of one person with this level expertise, imagination and ingenuity with technology. And she looks very similar to that young woman who flew in here."

"Who?"

"A dead woman."

xxxxxxx

"What is your name?" John asked, causing a look of sadness to cross the woman's eyes.

"Yahnthy," she answered quietly. "After my mother's sister. But Father calls me Izzy."

"You're Gilina's daughter, aren't you?" Aeryn asked the young woman. She nodded, her blond hair straggly and falling from the clip she'd pulled it back with.

The only people in the room were John, Aeryn, Deke, and this woman. Deke had to argue his way in to this meeting, but he insisted that this was family, and concerned him too.

Who was Gilina? The dead woman?

Her gaze shifted warily between John and Aeryn before she began. "In my reality, Gilina stayed on Moya after she met you all on the Zelbinion." She darted a challenging look at Aeryn. "She and John got married, and they are my parents."

Her reality. What the frell did she mean, _her reality_?

"Is your mother…" John paused, his voice catching. "Is your mother still alive?"

Izzy nodded. "The last time I was there. Father and I were separated when we were conducting a series of experiments together with the wormholes. My homing beacon was broken, and I've been looking for home ever since. You were the closest—" she paused, catching a lump in her throat, "the closest anyone has ever looked to the real thing."

"How long have you been searching?" Aeryn asked.

"I've lost track of time. It feels like forever."

There was a pause, when John and Aeryn looked at each other and then back at her. "You can stay here, if you'd like," John offered. "You need to rest."

"Thank you, but no. I can't stay. In my reality, you love Gilina. You are happy. I have to find my way back."

John nodded his understanding. "I cared about her in this reality as well, Izzy." Deke could see the woman's eyes soften with gratitude as their father continued. "Set the coordinates for this place, if you can. If you ever need to rest for a while, come back."

She nodded, tears in her eyes. "You are just like him."

xxxxxxx

Deke didn't know how he should feel as he watched Izzy's module lift and fly from the hangar bay, disappearing from view and from their lives. She was his sister, but she wasn't. She was family, but she was a stranger. She was an alien, but she _was him_in a certain sense. Would he ever see her again?

One thing he knew for sure. His father had a lot of explaining to do.


End file.
